I have owned 3 bottles of the Lot B over the years, I opened, drank and shared the first bottle and traded the other 2. All were purchased for MSRP or slightly above. Maybe the most overrated Bourbon in history along with all the other Van Winkle Bourbons IMO. They are a $900-$1000 Cad auction bottle in Ontario, nowhere near 2000 pounds.
It’s pretty overrated huh :) .. I got to taste it at a local bottle share. Caveat : I was tasting it just straight after tasting the Heaven Hill 17 year old. It literally tasted like sugar water compared to the HH17. Thank God I got to taste it and decided never to chase/hunt for it. There are way better store picks from other distilleries such as Russell’s Reserve , Stagg Jr, Knob Creek that’s way better than the lot B.
In KY I’ve tried half pours of Pappy 15 and Weller Special Reserve 12 year lot B and they are nothing alike. I honestly prefer Makers Mark Cast Straight over VW Special Reserve. Pappy 15 is amazing being well balanced with notes of leather, tobacco, n cherry but it’s still not magic potion people make to be.
I'm not jealous - no sir 🤩I need to find some new friends. Hey pal, we're mates right? How about you pass those bottles to a whisky purist that hasn't sold out to UA-cam so I can give them a fine, independent evaluation. I'm especially interested in the Wan Winkle 😉I have to comment, at this point, about the abv of some of this stuff. Proper Pappy is rocket fuel but what's going on here? £2,000 a bottle🤣🤣🤣 - Stop, my stomach's hurting. Critical hat on now. You and I have been drinking bourbon long before the age of allocation and all that crap so we have an inbuilt barometer about price/quality evaluation. I love Weller 12 but it's not worth a penny more than £40. Same is true of Elmer T Lee and so many others. I love bourbon but it is what it is. I do miss the Elijah Craig 12 because the NAS is nowhere near as good. They make enough stuff to have the ECBP and the regular 12 but don't so they can rip us off. Pappy is stupid rip-off and it there you go. It's just not o my radar. Available to chums of the allocated retailers only. Just had the same conversation with a Welsh wine and whisky retailer who get's allocation of Springbank because his grandfather came from Campbelltown. it's a tiny village and he only sells to his local pals - It's a well off part of Wales. Bubble gum? It's just a bottle of bourbon at the end of the day, nothing more. The Pappy label, a piece of paper, does not change it in any way. We think it should be amazing but I have no doubt that a whole bundle of Scotch 12 year will be better made and taste better than this. Rare does not mean good. WT
Plastic is fine/not a problem for whiskey. The most important factor for any cap or cork is that it seals out oxygen, which is what degrades flavour - or the process of oxidation. Think about all the other liquid products we buy that are sold in plastic, and whether their flavours are effected. Methylated spirits, or rubbing alcohol is sold in plastic bottles, and the plastic doesn't degrade and fail over time. I think contamination is minimal, or not noticeable to our palates.
Never meet your heroes. BT sometimes gets that bubble gum essence in my experience. Board members sit and vote on Weller spirit to decide whether it gets the upgrade to the Pappy label. If you're well versed in cask quality and single malts, it just becomes that much more underwhelming and may contribute to interpreting that watery sweetness as bubble gum.
Possible for sample to be compromised. This can be due to the sample bottle may not have been cleaned properly and there could be a residue of something in it. I had an experience where I used a sample bottle that stored other substances before, but I cleaned it and stored a sample of Caol Ila 12 to bring along for a trip. It tasted different from the whisky in my bottle. So it's possible.
You are lucky in friends! I tried this at a very small bar in Leicester for 6pounds a 3cl pour and loved it. Massive hits of cherry notes on the nose with a lot of caramel and maple syrup and on the palate cherry jam again and a very strong note of pez candy. So maybe the spirit is not that off with that bubblegum note?
The sample bottle looks just like the bottles that the company my wife works for sells for pharmaceutical solutions. I use them for my whisky samples. They come with a little removable plastic dropper in the cap. I put the droppers on the bottles after I fill my samples as they provide extra sealing. In general the plastic material should not react with the spirit and I highly doubt your sample has been tainted in any way by the cap. As the saying goes: disappointment is a product of unjustified expectations :) Maybe this whiskey that commands such absurd prices and everybody and their mother raves about doesn't fit your taste. If I had a free sample of such "unicorn" whiskey and I didn't like it at least I'd be feeling free of the urge to hunt it. There is still an ocean of wonderful whisk(e)ys to be had without the need to pay with an arm and a leg for them. Cheers!
Doubt it’s tainted it’s just an underwhelming whiskey. Good not great and the low ABV caters to the “Macallan type drinker” “it’s sooo smooth”
Yes, I was dangerously close to calling it smooth....
I have owned 3 bottles of the Lot B over the years, I opened, drank and shared the first bottle and traded the other 2. All were purchased for MSRP or slightly above. Maybe the most overrated Bourbon in history along with all the other Van Winkle Bourbons IMO. They are a $900-$1000 Cad auction bottle in Ontario, nowhere near 2000 pounds.
Thanks for the input --- I just checked some UK retailers to see what sort of prices they were selling at.
The most overrated whiskeys in the history of spirit making. I've tasted 30$ bottles better than these liquid jokes.
You might be right!
Sorry man, the look of confusion and disappointment was actually palpable.
Was it that obvious?
@@MaltActivist A bit 😁
It’s pretty overrated huh :) .. I got to taste it at a local bottle share. Caveat : I was tasting it just straight after tasting the Heaven Hill 17 year old. It literally tasted like sugar water compared to the HH17. Thank God I got to taste it and decided never to chase/hunt for it. There are way better store picks from other distilleries such as Russell’s Reserve , Stagg Jr, Knob Creek that’s way better than the lot B.
I'm with you on that
I always get an apricot flavor note
In KY I’ve tried half pours of Pappy 15 and Weller Special Reserve 12 year lot B and they are nothing alike. I honestly prefer Makers Mark Cast Straight over VW Special Reserve. Pappy 15 is amazing being well balanced with notes of leather, tobacco, n cherry but it’s still not magic potion people make to be.
Fair enough
I'm not jealous - no sir 🤩I need to find some new friends. Hey pal, we're mates right? How about you pass those bottles to a whisky purist that hasn't sold out to UA-cam so I can give them a fine, independent evaluation. I'm especially interested in the Wan Winkle 😉I have to comment, at this point, about the abv of some of this stuff. Proper Pappy is rocket fuel but what's going on here? £2,000 a bottle🤣🤣🤣 - Stop, my stomach's hurting.
Critical hat on now. You and I have been drinking bourbon long before the age of allocation and all that crap so we have an inbuilt barometer about price/quality evaluation. I love Weller 12 but it's not worth a penny more than £40. Same is true of Elmer T Lee and so many others. I love bourbon but it is what it is. I do miss the Elijah Craig 12 because the NAS is nowhere near as good. They make enough stuff to have the ECBP and the regular 12 but don't so they can rip us off. Pappy is stupid rip-off and it there you go. It's just not o my radar. Available to chums of the allocated retailers only. Just had the same conversation with a Welsh wine and whisky retailer who get's allocation of Springbank because his grandfather came from Campbelltown. it's a tiny village and he only sells to his local pals - It's a well off part of Wales.
Bubble gum? It's just a bottle of bourbon at the end of the day, nothing more. The Pappy label, a piece of paper, does not change it in any way. We think it should be amazing but I have no doubt that a whole bundle of Scotch 12 year will be better made and taste better than this. Rare does not mean good. WT
As usual my man WT spitting facts.
Plastic is fine/not a problem for whiskey. The most important factor for any cap or cork is that it seals out oxygen, which is what degrades flavour - or the process of oxidation. Think about all the other liquid products we buy that are sold in plastic, and whether their flavours are effected. Methylated spirits, or rubbing alcohol is sold in plastic bottles, and the plastic doesn't degrade and fail over time. I think contamination is minimal, or not noticeable to our palates.
You're probably right
Never meet your heroes. BT sometimes gets that bubble gum essence in my experience.
Board members sit and vote on Weller spirit to decide whether it gets the upgrade to the Pappy label.
If you're well versed in cask quality and single malts, it just becomes that much more underwhelming and may contribute to interpreting that watery sweetness as bubble gum.
The more I thought about the more I think you're right
Possible for sample to be compromised. This can be due to the sample bottle may not have been cleaned properly and there could be a residue of something in it. I had an experience where I used a sample bottle that stored other substances before, but I cleaned it and stored a sample of Caol Ila 12 to bring along for a trip. It tasted different from the whisky in my bottle. So it's possible.
Yes, and that's the conundrum
It Took u 10 minutes to smell it. I kind of faded off. Lol
Sorry! I just wanted to be sure
Annoying background click.
oh... that's my soundtrack
You are lucky in friends! I tried this at a very small bar in Leicester for 6pounds a 3cl pour and loved it. Massive hits of cherry notes on the nose with a lot of caramel and maple syrup and on the palate cherry jam again and a very strong note of pez candy. So maybe the spirit is not that off with that bubblegum note?
maybe...
What does the sample set cost?
£50
@@MaltActivist good price for the whole set!
@@MaltActivist Well it sounds like that's about what this VW expression is worth. I have been very underwhelmed with VW.
The sample bottle looks just like the bottles that the company my wife works for sells for pharmaceutical solutions. I use them for my whisky samples. They come with a little removable plastic dropper in the cap. I put the droppers on the bottles after I fill my samples as they provide extra sealing.
In general the plastic material should not react with the spirit and I highly doubt your sample has been tainted in any way by the cap.
As the saying goes: disappointment is a product of unjustified expectations :) Maybe this whiskey that commands such absurd prices and everybody and their mother raves about doesn't fit your taste. If I had a free sample of such "unicorn" whiskey and I didn't like it at least I'd be feeling free of the urge to hunt it. There is still an ocean of wonderful whisk(e)ys to be had without the need to pay with an arm and a leg for them.
Cheers!
I'm beginning to suspect you are right!